Perth's Prestige Property Market: Riding the Peak as the Cycle Turns

Ryan Sargant - State Director | Residential, Western Australia

• Perth's prestige market delivered WA's most expensive sale of the year in June 2026 (the Pemberton family's $15.3 million Dalkeith purchase), while mining billionaire Chris Ellison's $57.5M-in-2009 Mosman Park estate is back on the market and widely tipped to reset the state record. 

• Growth at the top end is real but considerably more measured than headline figures suggest: Cotality's stratified index shows Perth's highest-value quartile rose just 1.2% over the June 2026 quarter, against 3.4% for the lowest-value quartile, as downsizers and resources-wealth buyers increasingly outnumber first-time luxury entrants. 

• The outlook for prestige is moderation, not correction: chronic undersupply of quality stock, the nation's fastest population growth and a resources economy worth around $195 billion provide a floor, even as rising listings, higher borrowing costs and the 2026-27 Federal Budget's property tax changes cool urgency. 

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Key Findings 

• Perth's highest-value quartile (the prestige segment) rose 1.2% in the June 2026 quarter, per Cotality's stratified Home Value Index, a materially slower pace than the entry-level segment's 3.4%. 

• WA's most expensive sale of 2026 to date: $15.3 million, Dalkeith, June 2026. 

• Peppermint Grove remains Perth's most expensive suburb, with a median house price of $6,575,000 (REIWA, 12 months to June 2026). 

• Between 50% and 80% of Perth residences asking $10 million or more are estimated to transact off-market, according to buyers' agent Rich Harvey of propertybuyer.com.au. 

• Perth active listings surpassed 6,000 in June 2026, up 58.3% year-on-year, giving prestige buyers materially more choice than 12 months ago. 

Market backdrop: resources wealth meets a more measured top end 

Perth's prestige market is being shaped by forces well beyond the usual housing cycle. Western Australia was the nation's fastest-growing state by population in the year to December 2025, expanding 2.2 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with resources now accounting for close to 44 per cent of state economic activity and around $195 billion in output. Mining and petroleum investment reached a decade-high $34 billion in 2025, with $55 billion in committed and under-construction projects as at March 2026. This resources wealth continues to flow directly into demand for premium Perth property, particularly from fly-in fly-out and resources-executive buyers. 

Even so, the broader Perth market is showing early signs of cooling, and prestige is not immune to that shift. Cotality's stratified index puts growth in the top 25 per cent of dwelling values at 1.2 per cent over the June 2026 quarter, compared with 3.4 per cent at the entry level. Prestige demand remains positive; it is simply more measured than the headline market suggests. 

Prestige market conditions and buyer sentiment   

Firming conditions are being experienced across most of Perth's inner-city, riverside and coastal suburbs in the mid-to-top end of the market. During early-to-mid 2025 these markets showed signs of softening amid global uncertainty, but momentum picked up toward the end of 2025 and carried through 2026 despite the continued geopolitical tensions. The defining feature remains a high level of demand meeting chronic undersupply, producing premium prices for high-quality prestige product in the most desirable suburbs. 

Perth's prestige suburbs continue to set the pace nationally. Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and the Gold Coast have posted significantly stronger five-year luxury growth than Sydney and Melbourne, with Perth's top end increasingly dominated by downsizers rather than first-time luxury entrants. Independent research from Mordor Intelligence put Perth's luxury price growth at around 20 per cent in 2024 alone, driven by resources-sector wealth, with coastal precincts such as Cottesloe and Dalkeith singled out for their scarcity of developable land. Demand drivers include mining and resources wealth, returning expatriates, cashed-up local upgraders and downsizers, fly-in fly-out and resources-executive buyers, and growing international interest.

Notable and record prestige sales, 2025–2026 

• WA's most expensive sale of 2026 so far: NRW Holdings chief executive Jules Pemberton and his wife, lifestyle influencer Alesha Pemberton, paid $15.3 million for a Dalkeith riverside mansion (reported by the Australian Financial Review and confirmed by Domain in June 2026), a six-bedroom, six-bathroom Palazzo-style residence across 2,024 square metres on two titles, with a private theatre, guest residence, resort-style saltwater pool and Paul Bangay-designed gardens. Sold by ChoiceOne founder Margaret Goh. The couple also purchased a $4.53 million Yallingup holiday home earlier in 2026. 

• The Dalkeith deal overtook the $12.5 million sale of Andrew and Nicola Forrest's former Mosman Park home earlier in 2026. 

• 43 Saunders Street, Mosman Park: mining billionaire Chris Ellison's riverfront compound (six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, 7,565 square metres, three separate buildings, boathouse with jetty, full-size tennis court, cinema) was listed in April 2026. It last sold in 2009 for $57.5 million, then a national record, and is widely tipped to reset WA's house price record; no price guide has been set, as there are no true comparable sales at this level. 

• Prior WA records: $57.5 million Mosman Park (2009), $27.5 million Dalkeith (2020), $25 million Mosman Park, 177 Wellington Street (2024). 

• Peppermint Grove settled sales (REIWA): 35 Irvine Street $8.8 million (December 2025), 10 Bay View Terrace, land, $4.5 million (March 2026), 8 Columba Place $4.2 million (February 2026). 
  
  

Prestige suburb breakdown

Peppermint Grove: median house price $6,575,000 (REIWA, updated 14 July 2026, for the 12 months to June 2026); median time on market approximately 33 days; median advertised rent $1,650 per week. Perth's most expensive suburb. PropTrack high-intent buyer enquiry up approximately 59 per cent year-on-year.  

Image source: Ray White

Dalkeith: median house price $4,050,000, up 17.4 per cent year-on-year (REIWA, data to April 2026). Jutland Parade remains Perth's most expensive street.  

Image source: Domain

City Beach: median house price $3,775,000, up 25.8 per cent year-on-year (REIWA); coastal prestige suburb within the Churchlands Senior High School catchment. REIWA figures vary across reporting pages; treat as indicative.  

Image source: Blackburne Property Management

Cottesloe: median house price $3,355,000, up 4.8 per cent year-on-year (REIWA, data to May 2026); PropTrack buyer enquiry up approximately 18 per cent year-on-year.  

Mosman Park: median house price approximately $2,950,000, up 31.1 per cent year-on-year on the most recent REIWA reporting page (an earlier April 2026 profile snapshot showed $2.2 million, illustrating the volatility of this suburb's figures).  

Nedlands: median house price $2,715,500, up 9.9 per cent year-on-year (REIWA, data to May 2026).  

Image source: Melvista On Broadway

Claremont: median house price $2,580,000 (REIWA, data to June 2026).  

Image source: Shellabears

Applecross: median house price approximately $2,750,000, near-flat year-on-year growth (REIWA); south-of-river riverside prestige suburb, average time on market approximately 12 days. 

Image source: Australian Property Alliance

Prestige suburb medians are volatile month-to-month because of small transaction volumes, so growth rates should be read as indicative rather than definitive.

Regional and lifestyle prestige: the South West

Image source: Private Properties Australia

In the South West, spanning Dunsborough, Yallingup, Eagle Bay and Margaret River, prestige activity is clearly evident: a Yallingup land parcel at 255 Injidup Spring Road was listed from $10.5 million; multiple Dunsborough and Yallingup homes are listed between $2.4 million and $3.5 million-plus; and 18 Chapman Street, Dunsborough sold for $3.0 million in April 2026. The Pembertons' $4.53 million Yallingup purchase is emblematic of a broader trend of Perth prestige buyers adding a South West holiday residence to their portfolio, a lifestyle-migration dynamic mirroring the Hills and coastal trend seen in the Adelaide market.

Off-market activity and buyer behaviour at the top end

Conditions across the wider Perth market are also shifting in ways relevant to prestige vendors and buyers. Active listings surpassed 6,000 at the end of June 2026, up 14.8 per cent on May and 58.3 per cent year-on-year, the first time above 6,000 since April 2023, giving buyers considerably more choice than during the frenzied conditions of late 2025. REIWA reported that three in 10 Perth houses sold below their original listing price in June 2026, up from one in 10 during the March quarter; while this figure spans the whole market, it is a useful signal for prestige vendors that pricing needs to be benchmarked carefully against recent settled sales rather than set on the basis of list-and-wait expectations. 

For prestige stock specifically, the more informative signal is what happens away from public listings altogether. Buyers' agent Rich Harvey, chief executive of propertybuyer.com.au, estimates that between 50 and 80 per cent of Perth residences asking $10 million or more transact discreetly and off-market, a dynamic he attributes to high-net-worth buyers' preference for privacy over public exposure. This means headline listing and discounting data captures only part of the picture at the very top of the market.

2026-27 Federal Budget: implications for prestige investors 

The 2026-27 Federal Budget's property tax measures, announced on 12 May 2026 and now law, carry particular relevance for prestige investors and their advisers. Negative gearing for residential property will be limited to new builds from 1 July 2027; established dwellings purchased after 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026 will have rental losses quarantined and carried forward, while existing owners are grandfathered. The 50 per cent capital gains tax discount will be replaced with cost-base indexation and a 30 per cent minimum tax on capital gains accruing after 1 July 2027, and a 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary trusts applies from 1 July 2028. New builds retain both negative gearing and the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount. 

For prestige investors, this shifts the balance materially toward new-build acquisitions and owner-occupier-grade established property, and away from established investment stock. CBA senior economist Trent Saunders expects the changes to leave house prices around 3 per cent lower nationally than they otherwise would have been, and REIWA has already reported softer investor enquiry in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.

Outlook for prestige through the remainder of 2026

Perth's prestige outlook for the rest of 2026 points to continued, more measured growth rather than a broader correction. A structural undersupply of quality prestige stock, a resources-backed labour market that guards against distressed selling, and sustained interest from resources-sector wealth and returning expatriates all provide support. Big four bank forecasts for Perth range from ANZ's 12.3 per cent to CBA's 15.0 per cent for 2026 at the state level, broadly consistent with continued, if decelerating, demand for high-quality assets. 

The Reserve Bank of Australia held the cash rate at 4.35 per cent in June, following three consecutive hikes across the prior three meetings; trimmed mean inflation rose to 3.6 per cent in May 2026, and rate cuts are considered unlikely before well into 2027. Owner-occupier variable mortgage rates now average 6.23 per cent, with all rate categories trending upward. Perth's prestige market is typically less rate-sensitive than the broader market, but it is not immune: borrowing costs remain the key swing factor for buyer urgency at the upper end.

Recommendations

1. Vendors of prestige stock (over $3 million): price to today's market and present impeccably. With active listings above 6,000 and three in 10 houses across the wider market now selling below asking, the list-high-and-wait strategy of late 2025 no longer works. Benchmark against the most recent comparable settled sale, not a neighbour's result from three months ago. Threshold to revisit: if active listings retreat back below approximately 4,500 and days on market fall under 12 again, pricing power returns to vendors and firmer campaigns are justified. 

2. Ultra-prestige vendors ($10 million-plus): run a discreet, buyer-feedback or off-market campaign. With 50 to 80 per cent of this tier transacting off-market and no true comparables at the very top, a curated approach, as with 43 Saunders Street, protects both privacy and price discovery. The Ellison result will be the definitive WA benchmark; track it closely as a proxy for genuine top-end depth. 

3. Buyers and upgraders: the window of relative choice is now. The shift from single-week to two-to-three-week campaigns means less urgency-driven competition and more negotiating room than at any point in 18 months, while structural undersupply confirms this is a moderation, not a slump. Act while stock is elevated but before any renewed rate-cut cycle re-tightens conditions. 

4. Investors: model the post-Budget reality before transacting. Established-dwelling negative gearing ends for post-12-May-2026 purchases from 1 July 2027, and the capital gains tax concession narrows; new builds retain both benefits. Weight acquisitions toward new stock or owner-occupier-grade prestige, where the tax treatment and buyer depth are strongest. 

5. Watch the leading indicators. The RBA cash rate direction, the monthly Cotality Perth print (a negative month for the top quartile would confirm the turn), REIWA listings and discounting data, and iron ore and LNG prices, which flow through to WA jobs and migration with a 12 to 18 month lag and ultimately underwrite prestige demand.

References

• Cotality Home Value Index, May 2026, released 1 June 2026 (five-year growth commentary). 

• REIWA suburb profiles (Peppermint Grove, Dalkeith, City Beach, Cottesloe, Mosman Park, Nedlands, Claremont, Applecross), accessed July 2026. 

• API Magazine, "Australia's prestige property market finds its footing again," reporting Cotality data, March 2026. 

• Mordor Intelligence, Australia Luxury Residential Real Estate Market report, 2026. 

• Domain House Price Report, FY2024–25 (Perth suburb medians: Peppermint Grove, City Beach, Mosman Park and others). 

• PropTrack, Home Price Index and forecasts, 2026. 

• Australian Bureau of Statistics, National, State and Territory Population, December quarter 2025. 

• Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, WA's Resources Sector in Transition, Focus on Industry Series #10, June 2026.

• WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration, investment data to March 2026. 

• Australian Financial Review and Domain, reporting on Dalkeith and Mosman Park prestige sales, 2026. 
  

Ryan Sargant
State Director - Residential

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